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MSN Money
More older
Americans are being buried by housing debt
By Paul Wiseman
Associated Press
Al and Saundra Karp have found an unconventional way to raise money and
help save their Miami-area home from foreclosure: They're lining up
gigs for their family jazz band.
They enjoy performing. But it isn't exactly how Al, an 86-year-old
Korean War vet, or Saundra, 76, had expected to spend their retirement.
Of all the financial threats facing Americans of retirement age —
outliving savings, falling for scams, paying for long-term care —
housing isn't supposed to be one. But after a home-price collapse, the
worst recession since the 1930s and some calamitous decisions to turn
homes into cash machines, millions of them are straining to make house
payments.
The consequences can be severe. Retirees who use retirement money to
pay housing costs can face disaster if their health deteriorates or
their savings run short. They're more likely to need help from the
government, charities or their children. Or they must keep working deep
into retirement.
"It's a big problem coming off the housing bubble," says Cary
Sternberg, who advises seniors on housing issues in The Villages, a
Florida retirement community. "A growing number of seniors are
struggling with what to do about their home and their mortgage and
their retirement."
The baby boom generation was already facing a retirement crunch: Over
the past two decades, employers have largely eliminated traditional
pensions, forcing workers to manage their retirement savings. Many
boomers didn't save enough, invested badly or raided their retirement
accounts.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office for Older Americans
says 30 percent of homeowners 65 and older (6.5 million people) were
paying a mortgage in 2013, up from 22 percent in 2001. Federal Reserve
numbers show the share of people 75 and older carrying home loans
jumped from 8 percent in 2001 to 21 percent in 2011...
Read the rest of the article at MSN Money
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